Menu

Final: ARI 4, DET 1.

The Wings continued their stretch of home games as the Coyotes visited. Howard (1.68 GAA, .945 %) was in the net, facing off against Mike Smith (2.78 GAA, .926 %).

The first period started with penalties. Coyotes opened the scoring early. Deangelo gets his third of the year on the powerplay two minutes in. Wings would get a chance at the powerplay, but no score, or even any shots. With 12 seconds left Kronwall leaves got tripping, 4 on 4 briefly, and the Yotes would get a powerplay again but the Wings thankfully kill it off.

Athanasiou got his fifth goal from Nyquist and Vanek, tying the game at 16:12. He’s been a spark for offense all season long considering the limited ice time he has. Yotes grab a 2-1 lead from Crouse with 15 seconds left. Defense was bad but Jimmy should’ve been more sharp on it.

Second period looked great with early momentum. But Arizona gets up 3-1 from McGinn early. Defense was ugly again, considering the goal was made from Lashoff failing to clear the puck. Mantha dropped the gloves against Schenn, and the traffic, shots, and scoring chances climbed for the Wings went up after. But even having back to back powerplays late in the second, this team can’t get one goal from it.

Last 20 didn’t get any better. The Wings did get more shots, they would end up with 38 total but only a single goal to show for it. Marchenko left midway with a upper body injury. The final few minutes of the game ended with another wasted powerplay. 4-1 would be the final score after McGinn added another goal.

Arizona got a well earned win. They came in with a desperation mode and played better then us, which is a slap in the face when they’re at the bottom. The Wings continue to be on the middle of mediocre teams, but are only 4 points out of third place in the Atlantic after the Bruins and Senators as of right now.

Nyquist and Vanek looked better, getting more chances, but couldn’t cash in. Athanasiou was great. Howard wasn’t his best but he barley got any defense support, or goal support. Lashoff shoud not be playing over Sproul. And then there’s the pathetic powerplay, 0/4 tonight, which is so beyond bad it’s laughable. Wings aren’t in the hopeless pit yet, at least in my opinion, but they’re scratching at the border.